There was a lot on Xia Lei’s plate regarding the spy and Long Bing’s safety. Despite that, the man had made the point to clear his head at about ten in the night to enter his second battle on time. Truthfully, no matter how busy he was for the past few days, Xia Lei would always enter his study at ten sharp. He needed to be in tip-top condition for the American stock market.

Previously, he had created his own advantage and had gulped up Chlorella’s stock to the brim of his holding capacity. The Centennial Fund had later released bearish news and even collaborated with media outlets to expose the company’s violation scandal. The Chlorella Company had resorted to extreme measures to suppress their share values. However, this had all amounted to a great chance for Xia Lei to earn more. The American stock market had offered him much flexibility. He could buy more or he could sell them off. As Centennial Funds had tried their hardest to lower their shares, Xia Lei went to join the ranks of sellers.

Switching between buying and selling, his four accounts had no longer just contained one hundred and forty million USD. It had now risen to an astounding sum of three hundred million USD in just a few days. Much to his glee, the American stock market had no limiting system. Any account holding more than twenty-five thousand USD was allowed to trade to their heart’s content. This was also why his profits had doubled in the course of the last few days.

Albeit so, Xia Lei had decided to change his strategy tonight.

“h.e.l.lo, Miss Isabelle. It’s me, your friend.” Xia Lei’s voice was friendly through the web call.

“Ah, my friend. h.e.l.lo.” Isabelle’s voice rang through the speakers of the laptop. From the tone of her voice, it was clear that she was smiling. “I’ve received your gifts well. Thank you so much. It allowed me to move into my dream house.”

Xia Lei replied calmly, “But I’m afraid one hundred thousand dollars isn’t enough money for you to purchase a good house, right? I believe it's only enough for a down payment.”

“Yeah, that’s right. But there’s no need to worry, friend. I’ll work harder.”

Xia Lei chuckled, “How would you like to pay off your entire loan and throw in some renovations after that? I’m sure this task might even leave with enough to buy some electrical appliances of your choice.”

Isabelle fell silent. “My friend, speak. What is it that you wish for me to do? And… How much are you going to pay me this time?”

Xia Lei answered, “You’ve already made your loyalty and capability known to me. So you’re definitely in for a treat this time. I’ll send you an email. You’re free to open the text contents and video contents. Your sole task is to make sure that the content you put out is impactful.”

“That’s not a problem, I’ve got a lot of friends working in social media companies and content generating outlets. I can provide you with the impact you need,” replied Isabelle confidently.

“Very well then, this time I’ll pay you one million dollars. You’ll receive a deposit of half a million.”

“Wow! Oh my G.o.d! You’re too generous!”

“Use your pay to buy some of Chlorella’s stock while you’re at it. You’ll be sure to thank me.” And with that, Xia Lei ended the call.

A few moments later, he sent out an email as promised. Its contents were details concerning that ‘Jay Garrick’ project he had stolen from Chlorella’s database and surveillance footage in Centennial Fund. As soon as the information was published, Chlorella’s stock would experience an insane rise in the market. But tonight, Xia Lei would still have to channel in three hundred million USD into his account and take Chlorella by surprise.

Three hundred million USD would become six hundred million, and six hundred million would eventually become twelve hundred million! His money would s...o...b..ll into an amount beyond imagination!

However, he was not foolish enough to try his luck repeatedly with Chlorella’s stock. After this, Xia Lei would abandon it and move on to other prey.

Centennial Fund had been malicious, eager to short sale themselves to drive away retail investors and smaller investors from their holding. Those investors couldn’t help but sell off their shares. This was exactly what Xia Lei was aiming for. With the lower prices, he’d eat it up bit by bit. His three hundred million USD had only managed to boost the value by a mere two per cent. Despite that, his cost was below the two per cent amount. Simply put, even though his consumption had seemed ma.s.sive, it was only a small increase.

After transacting three hundred million dollars, Xia Lei made another call.

This time, it was for Honick.

When the call made it through, Honick’s voice rang through the laptop’s speaker. “h.e.l.lo, who’s this?”

Xia Lei murmured gently, “Uncle Xia, Sleeping, Uncle Xia Sleeps b.u.t.t Naked, Uncle Xia is a bad guy.”

Immediately, all voices died down on Honick’s side.

This was the keywords Zhu Xuanyue had implanted into Honick’s subconscious when she had attempted deep hypnotism on the unfortunate Caucasian man. As soon as these keywords were uttered, Honick would become a puppet and pliant to execute any instructions without objection.

Though Zhu Xuanyue was the one who had hypnotized Honick, the woman was missing. Thankfully, Xia Lei was able to deliver the same effect through this peculiar choice of keywords to order the man around.

“Cough three times,” instructed Xia Lei.

“Cough, cough, cough.” Honick’s cough was heard. It was exactly three times.

Confirming that Honick was in a trance, Xia Lei began to lay out his commands. “Go take a holiday in Greece for a month.”

“Understood,” said Honick monotonously.

“If anyone wishes to investigate Giovanna, Stella, Theresa and Rosa’s account, you must do your hardest to keep them away.”

“Understood.” Another soulless reply from Honick.

Vague instructions were still useful in Honick’s case.

Xia Lei had a purpose behind using Honick this time. Chlorella’s stock had a burst of weirdly good and bad news recently. There were clear traces of suspicions of manipulation. This phenomenon would soon attract the attention of the United States Securities Regulatory Commission and an investigation was bound to be launched. This was also why Xia Lei had decided to abandon his Chlorella holdings after this. Even if Chlorella’s shares had the obvious potential of value increment, Xia Lei had decided to not touch it again.

But of course, this was just the very beginning of his manipulations. It was illegal, which had made it necessary for Xia Lei to execute appropriate preventive measures. When his s...o...b..ll rolls into something gigantic, his funds would be scattered around every corner of the American stock market. When that time comes, he would no longer have to worry about the watchful eyes of the United States Securities Regulatory Commission. With Soros as an example of utilizing his American capital to attack the stock markets of Hong Kong, Thailand and j.a.pan, the governments in question were unable to do anything despite being aware of the situation. There was nothing the government could do because everything was done legally. They were making money under the market rules. To shut the market down was the only way around this!

Finis.h.i.+ng his task for the day, Xia Lei left the study. It was already two in the morning.

“What is that b.a.s.t.a.r.d doing now? Is the spy planning their next course of action? Are they watching me now?” Leaving the room, Xia Lei’s mind returned itself to fret over the spy issue. The sudden spark of insecurity immediately made him observe his surroundings carefully. Sadly, the man had found nothing.

Taking another few steps, he made an abrupt turn and went into another direction.

“Siyao reminded me to suspect everyone and she’s got a point. With the spy being able to hide this well and extract important information, they can’t be just any regular employee,” thought Xia Lei to himself.

Now, he was headed to the room of his future brother in law, Liu Zhengnan.

Standing before Liu Zhengnan’s room, a wave of hesitation gripped his heart. Xia Lei had a probable answer in his heart. When he had left America and instructed Liu Zhengnan to be his imposter, the CIA had not been able to grasp Liu Zhengnan’s traces. This fact alone was enough to diminish all suspicion. Another source of his hesitation was Xia Lei’s trust towards his sister. He believed that his sister had good taste. If Liu Zhengnan was a person with malicious intent, she would’ve known.

He paused in front of the door briefly and then left. It was alright to suspect Liu Zhengnan but if Xia Lei had barged into his room to investigate him, the distrust would be made clear. Doing that would hurt Liu Zhengnan’s heart. After all, the man was Xia Xue’s fiance. Liu Zhengnan would be part of his family. Xia Lei just couldn’t do something so selfish. Xia Lei was her brother.

“This spy is capable of hiding well. I’m sure they’ll go into hiding again after this period of time. I can’t let this go on like this. I need a way to lure them out…” Xia Lei’s heart pondered hard. Unknowingly, he had made it to the front of Liang Siyao’s room. The man peeked through the wooden door and saw that his lover was sound asleep, which immediately waved away his thoughts of some late-night intimacy. He couldn’t bear to disrupt her slumber.

Doot… Doot... Doot…

As Xia Lei turned to leave, his satellite phone rang.

He quickly pulled it out and gazed at the screen. It was an unfamiliar number. There was a brief moment of hesitation before he accepted the call. “h.e.l.lo?”

“Listen closely.”

Xia Lei’s body froze. This voice was all too familiar. His father, Xia Changhe, was on the other side of the call!

“America has launched a new material research project. It’s the same as yours.”

Xia Lei could feel his heart sink with shock. “How is that possible?”

“The project is confidential but it’s an exact copy of yours. I don’t have much information to spare but I believe that the Americans have gotten their hands on your sample and formula.”

“Where is the project site at?”

“Now, I know what you’re thinking but I won’t allow you to do anything drastic.” Xia Changhe continued, “Because the site is located in the East of America- Brandenburg, North Carolina. Do you know what that place is? It’s where the headquarters of the Delta Special Forces is at.”

The Delta Special Forces were the most elite and mysterious military force in the world. It was an existence that no other special forces could compete with. Since its establishment, the Delta Special Forces had many glorious battle achievements in the reconstruction of Operation Hope, Operation Free Iraq and so on. Their battle performances had become the textbook standard for special forces training in many countries.

For America to proceed with their new material research in the Delta Special Forces headquarters was a clear indication of its strong caution.

“Father… Y...you’re in America?” Xia Lei asked meekly.

“It’s only temporary.” Xia Changhe’s voice rang again. “There’s no need to worry about me, I’ll be fine. I’m more worried about you. There’s a powerful spy lurking around you. You need to capture them as soon as possible.”

“Will do. When are you coming back?”

Xia Changhe fell silent, Xia Lei could only hear his breathing. “I… haven’t considered that yet.”

“My wedding with Fan Fan will be happening during the Lunar New Year. I really hope that you can attend it,” said Xia Lei.

“I’ll really like to attend but my presence will only bring about big trouble. How about we save this talk for later? Even if I don’t make it back, I hope you can understand me and not be disappointed about it,” relented Xia Changhe.

Xia Lei answered, “I understand. I understand where you’re coming from and I’m sure Fan Fan will too.”

“You seem to have four wives. Are you only planning to throw a wedding for Fan Fan? What about the other three?”

Xia Lei could only huff a burst of dry laughter. “I will handle that. There’s no need to worry about that.”

“Alright then, that is all.”

“Wait.” Xia Lei halted his father. “Tell me. What on earth are you searching for?”

“You’ll know someday. But that day is not today.” Finis.h.i.+ng his sentence, Xia Changhe hung up.

The soreness in Xia Lei’s heart made his drawl a long sigh.

At this moment, the door to Liang Siyao’s room was pushed open. Liang Siyao, in her full pyjama glory, stared at Xia Lei silently as she laid against the door frame.

Xia Lei kept his satellite phone away and approached her. “Why are you up?”

“I noticed your presence when you came. Who was on the phone?” asked Liang Siyao.

Xia Lei said nothing but pulled her plush into his embrace. “Let’s talk under the blankets. You’ll get a cold with your thin pyjamas.”

Liang Siyao extended a teasing finger to jab at Xia Lei’s waist. “You’ll just strip everything off even if I was wearing layers, right?”

Xia Lei found no words to retort.

And so, the room door was clicked shut.